Dennis Wise is running scared despite years of battles

Tall order: Dennis Wise will push himself to get an impressive time on his debut

Dennis Wise makes his marathon debut on Sunday admitting he is more worried about it then anything he faced in a 20‑year playing career.

Wise was just 21 when he helped Wimbledon stun champions Liverpool in the biggest FA Cup Final shock of all time and he went on to win the trophy twice more as captain of Chelsea.

But for all the tension Wise endured on those days, the former England midfielder says it does not compare to the apprehension that he is feeling ahead of the Virgin London Marathon.

He said: "I've not done it before and I want to do a good time. I'm more nervous about this than playing in a Cup final. It's out of my domain. When it's out of what you're used to you will get a bit nervous."

Despite his fears and lack of experience, Wise has lost none of his renowned competitiveness four years after hanging up his football boots.

Proof of that comes in Wise's admission that he hopes to complete the course in three hours and 25 minutes — an impressive time for a debutante, especially as a persistent calf injury sustained at the end of his career has confined his training runs to a treadmill at home.

The 43-year-old said: "I really want to do it in that time, that's the competitiveness about me.

I've been lucky because I've kept fit after finishing football. I used to run a few times a week four or five miles to tick over and keep fit.

"I did lot of running round the streets but it used to make my knees and ankles sore so I started to do a lot of work on the treadmill.

"My worry is my left calf because towards the end of my career I pulled it four or five times and I've got a lot scar tissue and rubbish there."

Wise says he has been shamed into running the race after his wife competed in it a few years ago. "She's been giving me abuse for it ever since," he said.

A year-long executive scouting role at Newcastle — where he and owner Mike Ashley were dubbed the "Cockney Mafia" — ended last year and the acrimony towards Wise from the Toon Army continues.

Wise refuses to speak about the split, preferring to focus on the funds the marathon will help raise for Dennis Wise in the Community, his charity which has already raised £500,000 for sick and disadvantaged children through an annual ball at the Grosvenor Hotel, a golf day near his home at Stoke Park and House of Commons dinners.

Considering the acrimony towards him in the North East, Wise was hardly going to choose the Great North Run for his first attempt at distance running. He is likely to get a much warmer reception from the south east London crowd along the route who might remember him more fondly from his playing days at Millwall, Wimbledon and Chelsea.